


Math Problem

by allislaughter



Series: Fluffy February 2021 [22]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Arcades, Fluff, Fluffy February 2021, M/M, POV Third Person, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29659578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allislaughter/pseuds/allislaughter
Summary: Deacon and Rig are exploring one of the places Rig used to frequent before the war. Rig finds one of his favorite things to do: Math.
Relationships: Deacon (Fallout)/Original Male Character(s)
Series: Fluffy February 2021 [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138028
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Math Problem

**Author's Note:**

> Day 23 of [Fluffy February](https://fluffyfebruary.tumblr.com): Arcade/Amusement Park

Another day wandering Rig’s old haunts, another discovery that excites Rig and leads to Rig dragging Deacon in to see.

The old children’s arcade in old Sunnville is still powered and it somehow  _ hasn’t _ been completely ransacked yet. Deacon’s impressed, especially given how there’s very little security blocking them from entering, but then again they only were able to get in after hauling aside all the debris blocking the entrance.

“Is this a place you went to often?” Deacon asks as they pass by the old games. Pinball, cabinet games, some sort of mini-bowling game at the side... Rig seems to know his way around.

“Not— Not often.” Rig hums and then jogs up to a machine where a couple of skeletons are at each other’s necks on the ground next to it. Rig steps over them with a small “excuse me” and grabs the tokens resting in the cup of the exchange machine. He giggles and hurries off again, and Deacon still follows.

“I’m just saying,” Deacon says. “You seem to know your way around...”

“...I came here for a specific thing,” Rig answers.

“Yeah?” Deacon watches as Rig walks up to an old claw machine. “Oh. Aren’t those things scams...? No one ever  _ wins _ at them.”

“Mm.” Rig looks through the glass at the old toys, somehow in pristine condition even after so long. He steps to the side of the machine and looks through the glass on that side. And then again on the other side.

“...Rigsby?” Deacon asks.

Rig pops a token in. A jingle plays, and Rig steps back in front of the machine and maneuvers the claw around, watching carefully where he places it in the machine and nudging it by the barest of millimeters this way and that. He holds down the button and the claw drops onto a toy in the case...

The claw grasps the toy, picks it up, and promptly drops it in the receiving bin.

Deacon stares. “Yeah?”

Rig giggles and gets the toy out of the bin. “It’s  _ math. _ I can do math.”

“Math how?”

Rig drags Deacon in front of the machine. “See that one there? The blue doggie?”

“Mm-hmm?”

“So the angle of that one is bad. Too vertical. It’ll slip out of the claw.” He motions for Deacon to walk around to the right side. “But from here, you can see that it’s clear of obstruction. The tag isn’t caught on anything. It’s loose. If you, um...” He brings Deacon to the left side. “If you look here, now that I grabbed this first toy, there’s nothing pinning it down on this side.”

“Alright, Poindexter,” Deacon says. “So what’s the equation here?”

“Do you want me to do the actual geometry or get you a cute blue doggie?”

“Oh  _ absolutely _ get me the cute blue doggie.”

Rig stands in front of the machine again and pops in another token. He wrangles the claw over the dog, picking it up, but it slips out just like he predicted. “Okay, see now how it’s laying down? So there’s more for the claw to grip onto on this second go...” With one more token and expert angling, Rig deposits one cute blue doggie plush into the pin, ready for Deacon to take.

“Damn,” Deacon laughs. “You’re an expert at this.”

Rig beams proudly. “Doesn’t work on  _ every _ claw machine. Most of ‘em are designed not to let you win ever, but this one actually gives you a fair chance.”

“How many do you think you can win before Nick and Echo find us and make us go home?”

“I don’t know. How many tokens can we find?”

Sometime later, Nick and Echo spy Rig and Deacon walking out of the arcade with an armful of colorful plush toys. Echo bursts out laughing at the sight of them.

_ “That’s _ what you nerds have been up to all day?” she laughs. “How’d you even get those?”

Deacon grins from behind his pile of plush. “Turns out  _ Rigster _ here is an expert claw machine, uh, machine-er...”

“Want some?” Rig asks. “I got a cute German Shepherd one if you want it, also I’m about to drop some of these.”

Nick shakes his head. “You are  _ not _ keeping all of these.”

“No,” Rig agrees, gratefully letting Nick and Echo grab some from his stack. “I’m keeping the cute sheep and Deacon wants the blue doggie, but Deacon said we can give the rest to the children in Diamond City.”

Echo hums. “Not a bad plan. Let’s get these bad boys back home then.”

Deacon frowns. “You’re gonna carry some of mine too, right?”

“Nope!”

“Aww...”


End file.
